posted on July 3, 2004 11:49:51 AM new
THE RED, WHITE AND BLUE
California GOP: Democrats shunned war hero
Refused 4th-of-July ceremony, citing religious, political views
Posted: July 3, 2004
1:00 a.m. Eastern
The California State Assembly's Democratic leadership refused to allow a Vietnam war hero and former U.S. senator to join in a 4th-of-July ceremony, citing "separation of church and state" concerns and his political views, according to Assemblyman John Campbell.
After hearing about the rejection, Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger offered his meeting room Monday for a ceremony with retired Adm. Jeremiah Denton, which was packed to overflowing.
Campbell said the Assembly has arranged for many "celebrations" on the floor orchestrated by Democrats, with singing and dancing, including Cinco de Mayo, St. Patrick's Day and Chinese New Year's Day.
"But never once have we celebrated America's Independence Day, the 4th of July," he said.
So this year, Republican Assemblyman Jay LaSuer of San Diego arranged for Denton to come to California to participate in an Independence Day ceremony.
A memo from the Democratic speaker's office, however, said "problems have arisen both with regards to the spirit, content and participation of various individuals with regard to the ceremony."
The Democrats said Denton did not believe in the "separation of church and state," and they didn't like the policies he supported as a senator.
Denton was a Navy pilot who spent eight years in a Vietnamese prison after being shot down during the war. In 1966 while in prison, he was interviewed by North Vietnamese television in Hanoi after being tortured in an attempt to make him "respond properly."
During the interview, Denton blinked his eyes in Morse code to spell out the word "torture."
He was asked about his support for the war in Vietnam, to which he replied, "I don't know what is happening now in Vietnam, because the only news sources I have are Vietnamese. But whatever the position of my government is, I believe in it, I support it, and I will support it as long as I live."
Four of his eight years in prison were spent in solitary confinement, which he later recounted in his book, "When Hell was in Session."
When Denton stepped off a plane after being released from prison in 1973, he said, "We are honored to have had the opportunity to serve our country in difficult circumstances. We are profoundly grateful to our commander-in-chief for this day. God bless America."
He later was elected to the U.S. Senate from his home state of Alabama, becoming the first retired admiral ever elected to that body.
"Suffice it to say," Campbell said, "Jeremiah Denton is unquestionably an American hero."
Campbell said the Assembly had a 20-minute ceremony during its session Monday, but it was to celebrate the career of a retiring Los Angeles Times reporter. Democrats universally praised the reporter as being "balanced," Campbell said, and he was allowed to speak for about 10 minutes.
"Four years of Cinco De Mayo and not one recognition of the 4th of July," Campbell said. "An L.A. Times reporter praised, and the very person whose sacrifice allows him to express his opinion is banned. It is perverse. It is wrong. And it is disrespectful to all the men and women in uniform who have stared death in the face and to those who gave the ultimate sacrifice for the American people."
Campbell said Democrats are "always railing about intolerance and discrimination," but "in practice, it is they who engage in regular state-sanctioned discrimination and who are intolerant of the presentation of other views. Maybe they are worried that people will listen."
Meanwhile, in Gov. Schwarzenegger's meeting room Monday, Campbell said, Denton "gave a very moving speech about the 4th of July and about the undeniable commitment of our Founding Fathers' to their faith in God."
Denton said he fears partisan attacks on the U.S. mission and troops in Iraq and Afghanistan sound too familiar to what he experienced in Vietnam.
After his speech, attended by only one elected Democrat, Schwarzenegger came out to spend time with Denton, Campbell said.
"The natural family is a man and woman bound in a lifelong covenant of marriage for the purposes of:
*the continuation of the human species,
*the rearing of children,
*the regulation of sexuality,
*the provision of mutual support and protection,
*the creation of an altruistic domestic economy, and
*the maintenance of bonds between the generations."
posted on July 3, 2004 12:12:34 PM new
I don't see what the Democrats' problem was in having the guy honored on the floor. Pretty dumb reasoning.
By the same token, I felt the same when the Republicans attacked the patriotisim of a paraplegic Vietnam veteran for having the audacity to hold a different viewpoint.
Makes me glad I don't belong to either party, to tell the truth.
____________________
We are not afraid to entrust the American people with unpleasant facts, foreign ideas, alien philosophies, and competitive values. For a nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people. -- John F. Kennedy
posted on July 3, 2004 12:17:40 PM new
Sounds pretty silly and stupid, too.
About as silly and stupid as some Republicans saying John Kerry TRIED to get wounded so he could get a Purple Heart or the even more wacko ones who said he wasn't hurt bad enough to get a Purple Heart.
posted on July 3, 2004 01:45:20 PM new
Lets delve a little deeper than our ultra conservative news source has has done shall we?
Read a little (it took me three minutes to figure out why this one happened) about Denton.
Yes - he was undoubtedly a war hero, he is also a former senator but what seems to recieved only a glancing throw away type mention in the article posted is that Denton is whole heartedly ( even to the point of a foundation in his own name in order to further his cause) against the seperation of church and state.
Now correct me if I am wrong but isn't the 4th of July that day we celebrate the signing of the Declaration of Independence and our fore fathers and isn't freedom of religion and the seperation of church and state among the basic premises of this nation?
Am I the only one that can just picture the controversy that would have arisen from that little piece of irony?/ I don't think so.
Do we think that it was pure coincidence that this very controversial figure was the person that republicans picked?
Come on Bear - The republicans were looking to put the Dems ass in the fire and they found a way in a no win situation. Let it happen and watch the fur fly over his stance on church and state being celebrated on the 4th or nix it and come off as 'dissing the Vet.
It was a set up. And it is absolutely disgracefull. There are more than enough former POWs right here in California that could have been the guest off honor if there was an honest desire only to celebrate our countries independence. The fact that instead they chose to import such a controversial one shows what the true nature of the intentions were.
The only people that were truly dishonored were San Diegos large military population that were ignored by thei own assemblyman LaSuer in favor of instead, pulling a tacky publicity stunt.
~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~
If it's really "common" sense, why do so few people actually have it?
[ edited by fenix03 on Jul 3, 2004 01:48 PM ]
posted on July 3, 2004 05:06:27 PM new
Bunni, you never disapointment me in defending the dems.
"The natural family is a man and woman bound in a lifelong covenant of marriage for the purposes of:
*the continuation of the human species,
*the rearing of children,
*the regulation of sexuality,
*the provision of mutual support and protection,
*the creation of an altruistic domestic economy, and
*the maintenance of bonds between the generations."
Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. This time I didn't...
____________________
We are not afraid to entrust the American people with unpleasant facts, foreign ideas, alien philosophies, and competitive values. For a nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people. -- John F. Kennedy
